9 November 2017 12:00 am
A talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahathera from the USA at the Light of Asia Centre in Pelawatta, Battaramulla on Friday, November 10, 2017 at 8.00 pm.
The Most Venerable Bhante Vimalaraṁsi Mahāthera (born 1946) became a Buddhist monk in 1986. He went to Burma in 1988 to practise intensive meditation at the famous meditation centre Mahasi Yeiktha in Rangoon. On May 17, 2011, he was conferred the title of Sasana Tilakana, by The Supreme Sangha Council of Bangladesh. It was awarded for his intense work on preserving and teaching the Buddha Dhamma in the West.
Bhante Vimalaraṁsi came back to the USA in 1998. He has been teaching meditation throughout the country and abroad since that time. In 2003 he co-founded the United International Buddha-Dhamma Society, UIBDS with Sasana Dipika Khanti Khema who was the first woman Samaneri to take novice ordination under an American Mahāthera monk on American soil.
UIBDS supports the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center located near Annapolis, Missouri, in the USA. Bhante teaches meditation onsite from May through October each year. The balance of the year is spent travelling around the world giving retreats and talks. He has given retreats in Europe, Asia, SE Asia, and America.
How did Bhante find this practice of TWIM?
In 1995 Bhante began to study the Suttra texts more thoroughly and he practised meditation according to the Suttras.
After a three-month self-retreat in a Cave in Thailand, he wrote a book on the Mindfulness of Breathing called “The Ānāpānasati Suttra: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation”. Today it is estimated that more than a million copies of this book are circulated worldwide in 12 languages. The book has been revised and republished as, “The Breath of Love” including instructions for Metta Meditation, Forgiveness Meditation and accompanying Walking Meditation.
What makes Bhante Vimalaramsi unique is his simple style in everyday language and direct teaching from the suttras. Bhante reads several discourses directly and this has had a profound effect on the results meditators experience in practice. The meditation is not only for sitting but also if you keep it going, it will purify and retrain your mind in daily life. His book “Life is Meditation; Meditation is Life” (2014) makes this point beautifully.
Bhante Vimalaramsi teaches meditation called Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, TWIM for short. It is here that Serenity [Samatha] and Insight [Vipassana] gently yoked together result in a meditation practice and the Brahmaviharas come alive and beautiful as the Buddha intended for everyday use.
When in Sri Lanka Bhante Vimalaramsi is scheduled to give a talk at the Light of Asia Centre in Pelawatta, Battaramulla on Friday November 10, 2017 Time: 8.00 pm (For Directions: 077 10 250 17 OR Google Map https://goo.gl/maps/kWsyF6QpSD72)
More details are available on www.dhammasukha.org. sisterkhema@yahoo.com or
Bhante Dhammagavesi at +94750199550 (Whatsapp) Email, Indiadhammagavesi@gmail.com